Facebook Face Recognition and Privacy

The New York Times is reporting that Facebook is changing your Privacy Settings to allow its facial recognition software to identify you in the photos uploaded by you and others. Once you’ve been recognized, Facebook suggests to your friends that they tag you.

I’m not a big fan of Facebook making privacy decisions on your behalf. They should alert you that the new feature exists, and then let you opt in if you so desire. But of course, as I have said many times to many people Facebook and Privacy are actually polar opposites. FB wouldn’t be able to make any money if people were smart enough not to share every bit of information about themselves with everyone else on the internet.

From the article:You can change the privacy settings relating to the facial recognition feature, but it is a little confusing. If you want to disable the feature, go your account privacy settings and click “customize settings” at the bottom of the page. Once in this area, scroll down to a list of options called “things others share,” and then click on the button that says “suggest photos of me to friends.” You will then be given the option to disable the facial recognition feature.